Technical writing/Tools/Making Wiki Tables

How to edit Wiki

Wikiversity Main Page

Why and When to use Tables
Tables are an excellent way to organize large amounts of information in an easy to read way.

Table Syntax
The following code will build a basic table.

Tables always begin with {| and end with |}

In the first line we set the widths of the borders and the space between cells.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"

On the second line we enter the title of the table.

|+ 2006/07 Premier League Table

The following lines create the column headings, when creating the column headings we use a "!" instead of a pipe.

|-    !Position !Club Name !Points

Now we create the rows and the information that goes in them. Each line starts with a pipe and each row of information is separated by a |-.

|-  |1  ||  Manchester United  ||  89 |-  |2  ||  Chelsea  ||  83 |-  |3  ||  Liverpool  ||  68 |-  |4  ||  Arsenal  ||  68 |-  |5  ||  Tottenham  ||  60 |-  |6  ||  Bolton  ||  59

Notice that each cell is split by a double pipe ||. Usually there would be no space between the pipes, here the space is there to make reading the code easier.

This will create a basic table, which looks like this.

Tips and Tricks
Table width:

In the first line of the table it is possible to define the table's width, for example:

{| width=1000pt border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"

Column width:

To define the column width just add a percentage of the overall width to the column heading lines, as follows:

! width=25% | Position ! width=50% | Club Name ! width=25% | Points

The table now looks like this:

Common Problems


 * Missing pipes
 * Too many spaces
 * Not ending the table with |}

Exercise 1 Adding a Table to a Wiki

 * 1) Create a page
 * 2) Add a table with 2 columns and five rows
 * 3) Fill in the table with the names of five people and their favorite drink
 * 4) Save your page
 * 5) Debug the table if needed